I am just starting back and getting ready to round out my first week in the next day or two. Is there a weigh day for calorie counters here or is an individual thing? If so, is it best to weigh weekly? I am really trying to not weigh myself every morning b/c I think it's too much stress when I am retaining water.
there is no "right" time to weigh. You should weigh however you feel most comfortable with. The only thing I would advise is that you weigh at the same time every day, and wearing the same clothes, or lack of clothes. Like I weigh in first thing in the morning after I get up and have gone to the bathroom, wearing my night shirt. If I weight first thing in the morning for one weigh in, and in the afternoon for my next one, it can skew the actual numbers. So no matter how often you decide to weigh in, just make sure you keep the conditions of the weigh in the same.
Last edited by TornadoSiren; 09-28-2010 at 10:18 AM.
The most important thing is to have a routine and be consistant. As in, don't weigh before breakfast one day and after breakfast the next day. Or naked one day and wearing a sweatshirt the next day. All that stuff can throw you off by several pounds.
I personally am not a breakfast eater; I just can't force anything but a cup of coffee down my throat in the morning. I wake up at 6am, drink my coffee, go for a walk, and do various things (classes and what not). My first meal is at noon every single day, so I always weigh right before that. I'm probably lighter at that time because I've gone pee a few more times than if I weigh right when I woke up. I also weigh completely naked.
I weigh daily because I like the accountability and daily dose of reality. Daily fluctuations do not bother me, if anything I have found them to be kind of interesting. When I was a weekly weigher, I felt like I could get a bit loose right after weigh in because I wouldn't have to get on the scale for 7 more days. As a daily weigher, I think a bit harder about what I eat because I know it will reflect on the scale in the morning (even if it is just water weight).
So it's definitely a personal preference. The key is to weigh consistantly (same time of day, same clothes or no clothes, etc).
I agree with everyone here. Just do it the same every time. I used to always weigh in on weekends and I'd wait til after my morning 'bowel movement' but since I weigh in daily (lol) I have found my best 'official' day even without the morning bowel movement is Wednesdays and Thursdays so I picked Wednesdays. lol
I personally like the daily feedback of daily weigh ins. It can vary several pounds but whether its up or down it motivates me. Also since I've been tracking my variations aren't as big as they used to be. They used to be as much as 4-5 lbs more on any given day. Now its only 1-2 lbs variation if any (and actually i have several days of the same weight most of the time). But I use Wednesday's weigh in to track online.
I've always been told that the most accurate measurement is given if you weight yourself in the morning, after going to the toilet, before eating, without any clothes on. And also, don't weigh yourself while you're on your period, because you always gain a few pounds. Even if you know this, it can still make one feel a bit disheartened to see a higher number on the scale xD
I've always been told that the most accurate measurement is given if you weight yourself in the morning, after going to the toilet, before eating, without any clothes on. And also, don't weigh yourself while you're on your period, because you always gain a few pounds. Even if you know this, it can still make one feel a bit disheartened to see a higher number on the scale xD
this is what I've heard as well, and it's the same thing i do. but again, it's up to you whenever you want to weigh yourself.
As a daily weigher, I have personally found my weight fluctuations through the monthly cycle to be interesting. It can be a bit disheartening, but also fascinating if you don't let the fluctuations get to you. It's kind of neat to look back on a metric record of yourself and notice the patterns. You may not even realize how predictable you are until you see the hard numbers.
I bloat and fluctuate up by as much as 3-4 pounds for the whole week before my period. These are the days when I was having "fat days" and lo and behold, I truly was "fatter." I thought it was just in my head. The second day of my period, I have a sudden drop of those 3-4 pounds overnight. Especially now that I'm maintaining, my weight graph is a very steady and regular cycle of ups and downs.
Anyways, kind of straying from the topic...thought I'd share
Personally, I weigh every morning, but only record my weight once a week. The daily weigh-ins help keep me accountable and help me see any fluctuations before my weekly weigh-in. Then, if my weekly weigh-in is off (TOM, for example) I'm not freaked out.
It's a habit to weigh in the mornings for me. I may just keep doing it and record weekly. Perhaps if I get through a few cycles of water retention from exercise and TOM then it won't phase me as much when it happens b/c I will be able to see that it's just a fluctuation...
I'm a once-a-week, first thing in the morning after I pee and no clothes, weigher. I do it on Wednesdays. Yes, I will weigh myself from time to time at random times just to see but Wednesdays around 7, it's "official".
Honestly I am bad about weighing myself, when I'm being good I weigh myself every 2-3 days when I do it every day I get obsessive about fluctuations, or impatient about not losing enough etc... When I'm not being good, which has sadly been the last few months (trying to get back on track! lol) closer to every 7-9 days because I'm scared of what I will see, it's only THAT often cause I'd want to shock myself into being better if the weight jumped up dramatically (it hasn't, its been hovering within 5 lbs, not sure if that's good because I didn't trash my earlier hard work or bad because it didn't spur me back on track until now cause I'm sick of the 260s lol)
I will 9 times out of 10 weigh in the morning after using the restroom and before the shower while naked or only in panties... sometimes I will weigh myself at night if the curiosity gets the better of me but I remember in my head to go a little easier on the numbers due to food/drinks still in my system weighing me down
I wanted to weigh myself weekly, but it was too much self-control to avoid hopping on the scale every night! If you want the best results, you should probably weigh yourself in the morning (I've heard that you usually weigh your lowest amount in the morning). However, I like to weigh myself at night, for a more accurate number.
I would weigh yourself whenever you feel the need to just make sure you wear similar clothes (or none) and do it the same time every qtime you weigh in. Good luck.
For as long as I can remember (I've been dieting since I was 5 years old), I've heard that you should weigh weekly or even monthly, because if you weigh daily, you'll be easily discouraged. I assumed it to be true, so I always felt like I was doing something wrong if I weighed more than once a week.
I finally came to understand and accept that daily weighing (and occasionally even more frequently) works best for me. I thought maybe I was unusual, or maybe I was deluding myself, but then I read recently that researchers at the University of Minnesota and the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation looked at the results of 12 studies of weight loss/maintenance that incorporated weigh-ins, and found that dieters who weighed daily lost more weight and kept it off longer than those who weighed less frequently. One study found that participants who weighed 4x a day, lost twice as much weight over a two-year period as those who did not weigh themselves. Only one of the 12 studies found no advantage to weighing daily.
None of those studies prove that you should weigh yourself daily, but they certainly refute the claim that weighing daily is always counter productive.
If you become easily discouraged or distressed by weighing daily, the weighing daily may not be right for you. Personally, I found weighing daily to have the opposite effect. The more I understood my fluctuations, the more in control I felt. Nothing was as discouraging as "being good" all week (both in terms of following my diet/exercise plan and in weighing only weekly) and seeing a gain. Even if I knew it was TOM/water retention - it felt like a much bigger blow to see the gain and know that it was going to be a whole week before I could feel successful.
Find what works best for you, and don't be afraid to experiment even if it flies in the face of conventional wisdom. There are a lot of myths out there, and there's very little about weight loss that is one-size-fits-all.
When should you weigh?
